Techniques for Integrated Routing of Call Circuit Signaling and the Internet Protocol

1. A method for processing an Internet Protocol (IP) packet at a router that supports signaling between switches of a circuit switched network, comprising the steps of: receiving Internet Protocol (IP) routing data that indicates an association between a network link and an IP address for a node in a signaling network including a plurality of signaling nodes; receiving an ingress IP data packet; determining whether conditions are satisfied for locally processing a signaling payload within the ingress IP data packet, wherein the signaling payload supports at least one of a physical circuit or a virtual circuit persistently established between a calling node and called node; if the conditions are satisfied for locally processing the signaling payload, then performing the step of locally processing the signaling payload without sending the signaling payload over a network link to a different node in the signaling network; and if the conditions are not satisfied for locally processing the signaling payload, then routing the ingress IP data packet based on the IP routing data and ingress header data in an IP header portion of the ingress IP data packet.

2. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the signaling payload is a Signaling System 7 (SS7) payload for a persistent physical circuit.

3. A method as recited in claim 1 , said step of determining whether conditions are satisfied for locally processing the signaling payload further comprising the steps of: determining whether an IP destination in an IP header portion of the ingress IP data packet matches an IP address of the router; and determining whether a next protocol field in the IP header indicates a Stream Control Transport Protocol (SCTP).

4. A method as recited in claim 3 , said step of determining whether conditions are satisfied for locally processing the signaling payload further comprising the step of determining whether data in an SCTP port field in the SCTP header indicates an SCTP port that matches a port in a list of open local SCTP ports.

5. A method as recited in claim 4 , said step of locally processing the signaling payload further comprising the steps of: determining a particular interface identifier for a local network interface through which the ingress IP data packet was received; determining an owner interface identifier for a local network interface associated with the SCTP port in the list of open SCTP ports; determining whether the particular interface identifier matches the owner interface identifier; and if the particular interface identifier does not match the owner interface identifier, then sending the IP data packet for processing by a processor associated with the owner interface identifier.

6. A method as recited in claim 1 , said step of locally processing the signaling payload further comprising the steps of: determining a particular protocol to process the signaling payload portion of the ingress IP data packet; and providing the signaling payload portion of the ingress IP payload portion to a local process for the particular protocol.

7. A method as recited in claim 6 , wherein: the method further comprises receiving IP configuration data that indicates a configured IP function associated with a configured IP address; and said step of locally processing the signaling payload further comprising the steps of receiving an IP destination and an egress IP payload from the local process for the particular protocol after processing the signaling payload portion of the ingress IP data packet; forming an egress IP header portion of an egress IP data packet based in part on the IP destination, and sending the egress IP data packet based on the egress IP header portion and the IP routing data and the IP configuration data.

8. A method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the IP configuration data indicates at least one IP address associated with an interface physical layer conversion.

9. A method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the IP configuration data indicates at least one IP address associated with a rate limitation.

10. A method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the IP configuration data indicates at least one IP address associated with an access control list.

11. A method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the IP configuration data indicates at least one IP address associated with a traffic filter.

12. A method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the IP configuration data indicates at least one IP address associated with a tunneling lower layer protocol, such as multiple protocol label switching (MPLS).

13. A method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the IP configuration data indicates at least one IP address associated with a virtual private network collection of tunnels.

14. A method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the IP configuration data indicates at least one IP address associated with a quality of service.

15. A method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the IP configuration data indicates at least one IP address associated with a policy limitation.

16. A method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the IP configuration data indicates at least one IP address associated with packet encryption.

17. A method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the IP configuration data indicates at least one IP address associated with version 7 Internet Protocol addresses.

18. A method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the IP configuration data indicates at least one IP address associated with hot standby routing protocol.

19. A method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the IP configuration data indicates at least one IP address associated with next hop resolution protocol.

20. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein: the method further comprises the step of receiving IP configuration data that indicates a configured IP function associated with a configured IP address; and said step of receiving the ingress IP data packet further comprises applying the configured IP function to the ingress IP data packet based on an IP header portion of the ingress IP data packet and the IP routing data and the IP configuration data.

21. An apparatus that supports signaling between switches of a circuit switched network comprising: means for receiving Internet Protocol (IP) routing data that indicates an association between a network link and an IP address for a node in a signaling network including a plurality of signaling nodes; means for receiving an ingress IP data packet; means for determining whether conditions are satisfied for locally processing a signaling payload within the ingress IP data packet, wherein the signaling payload supports at least one of a physical circuit or a virtual circuit persistently established between a calling node and called node; means for performing the step of locally processing the signaling payload on the apparatus, if the conditions are satisfied for locally processing the signaling payload; and means for routing the ingress IP data packet based on the IP routing data and ingress header data in an IP header portion of the ingress IP data packet, if the conditions are not satisfied for locally processing the signaling payload.

22. An apparatus that supports signaling between switches of a circuit switched network comprising: a network interfaces that is coupled to a network that supports signaling between switches of a circuit switched network for communicating therewith a data packet; one or more processors; a computer-readable medium; and one or more sequences of instructions stored in the computer-readable medium, which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to carry out the steps of: receiving Internet Protocol (IP) routing data that indicates an association between a plurality of network interfaces and a plurality of IP addresses for network nodes; receiving an ingress IP data packet on the network interface; determining whether conditions are satisfied for locally processing a signaling payload within the ingress IP data packet, wherein the signaling payload supports at least one of a physical circuit or a virtual circuit persistently established between a calling node and called node; if the conditions are satisfied for locally processing the signaling payload, then performing the step of locally processing the signaling payload on the apparatus; and if the conditions are not satisfied for locally processing the signaling payload, then routing the ingress IP data packet based on the IP routing data and ingress header data in an IP header portion of the ingress IP data packet.

23. An apparatus as recited in claim 22 , wherein the signaling payload is a Signaling System 7 (SS7) payload for a persistent physical circuit.

24. An apparatus as recited in claim 22 , said step of determining whether conditions are satisfied for locally processing the signaling payload further comprising the steps of: determining whether an IP destination in an IP header portion of the ingress IP data packet matches an IP address of the router; and determining whether a next header protocol field in the IP payload header portion of the ingress IP data packet indicates a Stream Control Transport Protocol (SCTP) header.

25. An apparatus as recited in claim 24 , said step of determining whether conditions are satisfied for locally processing the signaling payload further comprising the step of determining whether data in an SCTP port field in the SCTP header indicates an SCTP port that matches a port in a list of open local SCTP ports.

26. An apparatus as recited in claim 22 , said step of locally processing the signaling payload further comprising the steps of: determining a particular protocol to process the signaling payload portion of the ingress IP data packet; and providing the signaling payload portion of the ingress IP payload portion to a local process for the particular protocol.

27. An apparatus as recited in claim 26 , wherein: The one or more sequences of instructions causes the one or more processors to carry out the step of receiving IP configuration data that indicates a configured IP function associated with a configured IP address; and said step of locally processing the signaling payload further comprising the steps of receiving an IP destination and an egress IP payload from the local process for the particular protocol after processing the signaling payload portion of the ingress IP data packet, forming an egress IP header portion of an egress IP data packet based in part on the IP destination, and sending the egress IP data packet based on the egress IP header portion and the IP routing data and the IP configuration data.